Dallas Mavericks Blog

Dirk Nowitzki says rehab is taking longer than he hoped

Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said tonight that the rehabilitation on his surgically repaired right knee is taking longer than he hoped, though he didn’t indicate that there have been any setbacks. He gave no updated timetable for his return.

Nowitzki had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 19. At the time, team doctor T.O. Souryal’s stated prognosis was that Nowitzki would be able to resume basketball activities in six weeks. That would be late November or early December.

“Gotta admit, I’m already getting tired of rehab,” Nowitzki said on Fox Sports Southwest’s telecast, during the second quarter of tonight’s game against Minnesota. “It’s been three weeks. Obviously, that’s a lot of time for me watching.

“At this point, gotta stay patient and do what the doctors and trainers tell me. Just keep rehabbing and see how long it is.

“When I originally heard three-to-six weeks, in my mind I’m thinking ‘in two weeks I’m back.’ But unfortunately, this is not how it happens. My first knee surgery of my career and unfortunately this stuff takes longer than we expected.

“So I’ve gotta be patient, do the smart thing and keep working.”

Nowitzki said he recently started running in the pool, in addition to riding a stationary bike. He said “we’ll probably introduce a little more next week,” but did not specify what work that might be.

Nowitzki said the most difficult part has been learning to be patient and follow doctor’s orders.

“I just want to be out there. To me, the recovery is not as quick as I was expecting. Had some down days, so I’m working on being in a good mood and still firing the guys up and being there every day, working out and working hard on some other stuff.”